Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

So, I played a RIC for the first time, in delicious anticipation of receiving the one I ordered.

I plugged it in, and it sounded amazing! It was everything I'd hoped it would be 'tone wise'; a good generic bass sound with nothing eccentric going on.

But then...while changing amps, I tossed off a riff in advance of it being plugged in! Why do RICs generate so little acoustic tone? Is that...usual?

I could barely tell what pitch I was playing! My Fender Pro II Jazz almost doesn't need plugging in (a good thing too because its not great when it is).

That possibly being the case, how do you 'noodle' casually too yourself if you can't hear it over the background noise of a quiet room?

Secondly, instead of that glorious tone coming out of the amp...there was a chorus of clatter emanating from the instrument itself. What is that?

Its not fret buzz, because its inaudible in the the sound coming through the amp...or is that not the case at volume? I didn't try playing hard or loud.

If that is the promise of this instrument, its going to be...an acquired taste, to be sure, because I often play my bass without plugging it in.

Is this just this single instrument, or to all RICs do this. I might have to rethink the purchase or how I conduct myself at practice and play.

Thanks!

My Rick is fairly loud acoustically; but:
when 'noodling' I sometimes rest my chin on the upper horn - the better to hear and feel an accurate acoustic tone; (I read somewhere that a bassist for the Bee Gees did this live; the paint eventually wore thin on the horn and he repainted his Rick white as a result).
A rattily fret board sounds like the neck could use slightly more relief or the action a tad higher.
Or use lighter gauge strings with less tension.

What model Rick are we talking about?

corduroyboy wrote: ↑Wed Jan 10, 2024 5:50 am (I read somewhere that a bassist for the Bee Gees did this live; the paint eventually wore thin on the horn and he repainted his Rick white as a result).

A long time member of this forum owns that bass. Though, I haven't seen him post in a long time.

As to the OP's question: your Rick is made almost exclusively of hard maple which doesn't resonate nearly as much as the alder or whatever wood your JB is made out of. Alder has more mids which are easier to hear and maple is scooped, so the bass and highs are emphasized.

If you ask that question on Talkbass, they'll tell you it's all in the fingers. So you must be using different fingers when playing the Rick as opposed to the JB.

teeder wrote: ↑Wed Jan 10, 2024 9:27 am

corduroyboy wrote: ↑Wed Jan 10, 2024 5:50 am (I read somewhere that a bassist for the Bee Gees did this live; the paint eventually wore thin on the horn and he repainted his Rick white as a result).

A long time member of this forum owns that bass. Though, I haven't seen him post in a long time.

Yes; I read about it on this site.

teeder wrote: ↑Wed Jan 10, 2024 9:27 am

corduroyboy wrote: ↑Wed Jan 10, 2024 5:50 am (I read somewhere that a bassist for the Bee Gees did this live; the paint eventually wore thin on the horn and he repainted his Rick white as a result).

A long time member of this forum owns that bass. Though, I haven't seen him post in a long time.

As to the OP's question: your Rick is made almost exclusively of hard maple which doesn't resonate nearly as much as the alder or whatever wood your JB is made out of. Alder has more mids which are easier to hear and maple is scooped, so the bass and highs are emphasized.

If you ask that question on Talkbass, they'll tell you it's all in the fingers. So you must be using different fingers when playing the Rick as opposed to the JB.

It must be that the Rick doesn't have a tort pickguard (now, that is real TB talk ).

The first thing I’d ask is are the setups on both basses the same? Same relief, same string height, same make and gauge of strings? Because all these things will affect how an instrument sounds acoustically, regardless of how it’s constructed. How many types of basses have you played? Because they’re all different IME. I’ve probably owned a hundred basses (and have played thousands - I’m old!), and even different examples of the same model are seldom the same. And yes, you can have fret buzz without it being serious enough to come out of an amp. If the action on the Rick is lower than you’re used to, or the neck straighter, or the strings lighter/lower tension, all those things will contribute to fret buzz.

FWIW, I possibly have found bolt-ons louder acoustically, on average. But as I don’t play acoustically very often, it’s not an issue for me. Could you get a small practice amp?

jps wrote: ↑Wed Jan 10, 2024 11:41 am

teeder wrote: ↑Wed Jan 10, 2024 9:27 am

corduroyboy wrote: ↑Wed Jan 10, 2024 5:50 am (I read somewhere that a bassist for the Bee Gees did this live; the paint eventually wore thin on the horn and he repainted his Rick white as a result).

A long time member of this forum owns that bass. Though, I haven't seen him post in a long time.

As to the OP's question: your Rick is made almost exclusively of hard maple which doesn't resonate nearly as much as the alder or whatever wood your JB is made out of. Alder has more mids which are easier to hear and maple is scooped, so the bass and highs are emphasized.

If you ask that question on Talkbass, they'll tell you it's all in the fingers. So you must be using different fingers when playing the Rick as opposed to the JB.

It must be that the Rick doesn't have a tort pickguard (now, that is real TB talk ).

I have a 2010 Carvin BB70 that sounds incredible through an amp, unplugged, its as dead as a stone. Great bass plugged in, but unplugged, it almost feels awkward.

My thought is that, for a bass to be audible acoustically, it has to excite the air. That energy has to come from somewhere, and it comes from the strings. That will reduce sustain. If the energy taken from the strings varies with frequency (it will; it's a matter of which frequencies and to what extent), that will change how the string vibrates, which will in turn affect how the instrument sounds. Is it enough to matter? Maybe. Probably, in many cases. That's how "tone wood" works on a solid body bass. In the case of the Carvin, very little. Same with most Rics. I've played a bass or two that had little tone or sustain; they just weren't well made.

So, for myself, I don't want a solid body bass to be loud acoustically, but I do want it to have an even frequency response. My Rics fit the bill.

Your post piqued my curiosity about the acoustical differences in volume levels between my Ric 4003fl and fretted '75 Fender Jazz Bass. Before comparing, some details: The 4003fl has a rosewood fingerboard, the Jazz Bass' is maple. Both basses have been strung with TI flats. They each feature factory black finishes, however the Fender sports an aftermarket gold anodized aluminum pickguard, while the Ric pickguard is the standard translucent white acrylic. The basses were played seated and without guitar straps.

Using traditional two finger right hand technique to noodle over a nearly three octave F major range, the volume levels are very much the same. But (and this is a big but) there is a noticeable difference in timbre. Even unamplified a Fender sounds like a Fender and a Ric sounds like a Ric. Have fun with your new bass!

Even unamplified a Fender sounds like a Fender and a Ric sounds like a Ric.

That has been my experience, too.

Click, gank, clank, honk, I like it all.

Maybe the question should be why shouldn't a Ric click?